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*****The wanderers are back home. Locals Louise Gravenor, Dorothy Uecker, Pearl Hedlund, Joy Watson and Pat Dildine have returned from a weeklong bus trip to Nashville. While there they visited the Grand Ole Opry, the Country Music Hall of Fame, Loretta Lynn’s Kitchen, Opryland Hotel, Delta River Flatboats, the Belle Meade Plantation, the Hermitage and many other places. You’ll have to ask Louise and Pearl about their visit to Tootsies!

*****Andy & Geneva Eubanks and Sterling and Dolly Bingham took Melvin & Carolyn Eubanks to the Texas Roadhouse in Bryan on Friday night for Carolyn’s 89th birthday. The steaks were soooo good. Melvin & Carolyn weren’t feeling too good - sore throats, cough, etc. but they were not to be denied their steaks!

*****Bill and Beverly Voron had special guests over the Thanksgiving weekend. Beverly’s sister, M’Liss Hindman, M’Liss’ husband, Robert, their daughter, Ashley, and Ashley’s fiancé, John Phelps enjoyed the Hill Country.

*****Bryan Neskora and his older son Ross came up on Wednesday night to be in Johnson City for the entire Thanksgiving weekend. Ross and his dad were lunch guests of Pat and Cynthia Smith and on Friday, Mary Neskora, Bryan’s wife and Dani their daughter and younger son Pierce joined the rest of the family. The women in the family enjoyed some “Black Friday’ shopping in Fredericksburg while the men in the family hunted. Pierce bagged his first buck this trip and has a grin to match the width of the horns on his buck.

*****A direct quote from the Chamber of Commerce newsletter – “Opening Weekend is over and the Light Spectacular Committee has indeed outdone itself. KVUE News provided area wide coverage through their onsite reporting of the Lights Spectacular events. CNN gave Lights Spectacular widespread coverage both locally and nationally.”

*****Don’t forget the Living Nativity at the First United Methodist Church this weekend. Last chance this season to see the awesome performance on Friday, December 12 and Saturday, December 13.

*****The Hill Country Toy Run delivered their “sleigh” full of toys to the Cherokee Children’s Home on Saturday, December 6. I never did hear the total raised for this event from the Pig Roast.

*****The Buck family – Shane, Jerry Ann, & Taylor went to spend the day on Sunday in Austin with Shane’s sister Tammy Elkins her husband Jason and their kids Lexie and Ryan. Lexie played in a softball tournament which they won in triple overtime. Way to go Houston Power. Haley was at a friend’s house for the day. They all enjoyed their visit.

*****Fifty members of the First Baptist Church attended the Rock Box Theater Christmas presentation in Fredericksburg on Saturday evening. After the fantastic show, most of them met again at Mamacita’s Mexican Restaurant to continue the party.

*****The Johnson City Volunteer Fire Department and North Blanco EMS held their joint annual Christmas party on Saturday night also. It was a delicious dinner catered by Ronnie’s Bar-B-Que. Special guest Santa Claus was hit with the children and adults alike. Several awards were presented to Fire and EMS members. The party was undoubtedly a success.

*****Guess who just turned 80 and you’d never believe it by looking at her? Freda Baber. I think she had a great surprise birthday celebration.

*****Be sure to check out the free-lance article about Lights Spectacular written by our own George Cofran. You can see the article at www.hillcountryportal.com/reports/LightsSpectacular

*****You might be a Johnson City native if you remember when the Johnson City Volunteer Fire Department was formed in 1949.

*****Happy Birthday wishes to: December 11th – Yvonne Brooks and Shelby Sultemeier; December 12th – Penny Houston and Carlene Hale; December 13th – Bryan Gumbert & Margaret Bamberger; December 14th – Charles Koch, Brooke Renfro; Donna McKennis and Jerry Sultemeier; December 15th – Janie Moreland, Darryl Henson, Mark Butler, LaVonda Renfro, & Louis Banta; December 16th – Camilla Wenmohs, Grey Grote, and Dan Holland; and December 17th – Kaci Gumbert and Butch Phillips.

*****Who has an anniversary next week?

*****Tip for the week: Buy cheap square baskets at the Dollar Store to put items in your freezers. Just store frozen foods in them according to categories. When you need peas, pull out the vegetable basket. If you need bacon, I pull out the pork basket and so on. This also works great in my small kitchen freezer. Use smaller baskets in there to store items like leftovers, cookies or whatever. It also helps to catch those nasty ‘freezer crumbs’ and your freezer will always look neat.

*****I’ll see you again when there’s more news! Speaking of news, if you have some, email it to imasnoop01@gmail.com.